Unlike Texas, AZ & NM state parks do not have an entrance fee on top of the camping fee.
At least NM doesn't, & believe AZ is the same. Texas pass is mainly for the daily fee, not camping.
NM State Park Fees are some of the lowest in the country. $10 camping without hookups, $4 more for electric.
Fees NM State ParksTrue it's generally cooler at times colder in NM than AZ depending on weather patterns, which seem to vary from year to year. However, it seems many winter using them each year. One would want to stay in the southern part of the state of course.
Find a Park MapThis older post has a lot of scattered information on both AZ & NM (but some is from the northern part of the state) & TX maybe you can find something of use in it. Oophs! Forgot the old post
:SInformation on Many Things.
Many Snowbirds use BLM land & campgrounds in AZ (as well as NM). Yuma has many. Quartzite has a lot. Around Ajo there seems to be places.
A Blogger from Ontario,
The Bayfield Bunch spend their winters in the southwest. Often in AZ. Look into past post when they were in Ajo & others places in the state. They are more into dispersed campsites, however.
In NM, a few neat state parks: City of Rocks, Elephant Butte Lake & Caballo Lake, Leasburg Dam, Oliver Lee Memorial, Pancho Villa, Percha Dam, Brantley Lake & perhaps Rockhound would work as winter sites.
The BLM
Valley of Fires Campground would make a nice place to spent time as well. An excellent campground.
As I mentioned, Many people winter in or around Ajo. .
Organ Pipe Cactus Nat'l Mon't ----
Darby Wells Road BLM Camping ----
Ditto ----
Ajo Boondocking Ajo Park Reviews ----
RV Sue Blog at Ajo = PS: use the arrows to go backwards or forward to see more.
A goodbye slideshow to Ajo _____ Good morning, good night, Saddle Mountain
Free Camping at Ajo Golf Course (Three days free RV dry camping with use of facilities.) Eating there would work, I believe.
http://earthonly.com/ajo/golf.phpWe can have cold weather out here & it can snow, but in Las Cruces, normally, it wont last long, a day or two. Usually any snow will be gone the next day or so. About the same for Tucson but somewhat warmer.
The nights will have the temps dropping, often to freezing, but warming somewhat quickly in daytime. Sunny is our more normal, often even when it is pretty cold.
Tucson, I really like. Large place, but not a large city feel to it. Easy to get around, very nice, wide streets with pretty easy traffic flow. I haven't seem much of Phoenix to be honest.
Last winter was somewhat cooler one in AZ it seems & somewhat wet, but AZ gets more rain than southern NM. Two rainy seasons to our one. Hard to say what the next one will bring.
Tucson normally 10 degrees warmer than us (at about the same latitude) for it is a littler lower in elevation & Phoenix is even at a lower elevation than Tucson, although at a north latitude. Almost always warmer in Phoenix.
Phoenix seems to have more smog (seldom see it if ever in Tucson), more dust (Haboob Dust Storms), many more snowbirds with more snowbird parks, & more congestion or traffic than Tucson.
Another old Post,
Some of the Same, but With Some New.
:)
Ditto
